Thursday, February 3, 2011

Valentines

And here we have a heart garland. (What? Another garland? For heaven sake woman.) What can I tell you. I love a garland. I love that you can put it up, and then take it down, and enjoy it next year! It is bright and cheerful. And since "Jambi" was born, we have had so many hearts in the house. What's a few more? My inspiration was certainly these Mochi Mochi hearts. But after seaming a few of these together, I modified the pattern to be two sided. Then we can incorporate another color, and avoid at least 1/3 of the tedious seaming.

Here is the modified pattern.Two color mini heart in one piece:

Cast on 1 of each colorKnit in the front and back (Kfb) of each stitch (4 st)(with the color the stitch is in. Be sure to twist the yarns to connect the two hearts where the colors join. Otherwise, you will be knitting two separate hearts. Twist EVERY time, to avoid a hole.) purl backKfb each stitch (8 st. 4 each color)Purl backKfb, k1, Kfb, K1 change color, repeatPurl back (12 stitches, 6 each colorYou are not protecting the edge stitches to make the seams cleaner and easier. ) KFB, knit to the next to last stitch in the color, Kfb, KSwitch to other color, repeatPurl backContinue until you have 28 total, 14 of each colorThose are your base triangles of the heart. Now, we will decrease the top lobes of the heart one at a time. K2tog, K5, turn P2tog, P2, P2togTurn K2tog, K2tog, pass one over the other, break off 20 inches, pass the yarn through the last stitch to close the loop, sew the yarn down the lobe of the heart to the next knit stitches. K5, K2tog, turnP2tog, P2, P2togK2tog, K2togPass on knit over the other. Pull the yarn through the last loop to finish. Repeat with the other color for the other side of the heart.

Pick one color to use to seam the hearts together. If you seam carefully and pull your stitches a little bit tight, the color will not show ‘through’. Enjoy separately, or string them together into a garland.